Beltway disconnect, Exhibit A

posted at 5:31 pm on March 1, 2014 by Dustin Siggins

Since the start of 2014, Washington has passed three laws that further worsened America’s crumbling financial circumstances. The farm bill, the debt ceiling increase, and the budget deal were all given bipartisan support even though each failed the test of fiscal responsibility.

All three passed, according to a number of political observers, as a result of the partial government shutdown in October.

These observers include National Journal’s Shane Goldmacher. According to Goldmacher, however, the shutdown was beneficial – to everyone in the Beltway, that is. Goldmacher says the President and Senate Democrats broke the back of conservatives in Congress, House Democrats raised money, Speaker Boehner gained the respect of conservatives in his caucus Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) became a household name, and Tea Party-affiliated groups like Senate Conservatives Fund raised money and got e-mail addresses for future fundraising campaigns.

The only special interest Goldmacher forgot about is the average American. He specifically went on to praise the results of the shutdown because it led to the passage of the three aforementioned bills:

The shutdown renewed Washington’s hand-wringing about gridlock, but the gears of government have actually begun to turn more efficiently ever since. Congress passed its first bipartisan budget in years. The long-stalled farm bill reached the president’s desk. And playing chicken with the debt limit, which had left the markets frustrated, gave way to a relatively drama-free lifting of the borrowing cap in February.

In Washington, passing legislation counts as success. Like many, though, Goldmacher ignores that legislation should pass a quality control test before passage.

Consider the farm bill. It spends over $950 billion – far more than its predecessor, the 2008 farm bill – and those costs have grown enormously over the last decade-and-a-half. This is especially true with regards to food stamps, regardless of recessions. In fact, despite how the nation has been out of the last recession for nearly five years, food stamps continue to be enormously expensive.

Crop insurance and direct subsidies are the other part of the farm bill, and they boil down to largely being subsidies for rich farmers. Which means the farm bill is full of welfare for people all across the income spectrum, something this country can scant afford.

Regarding the “bipartisan budget,” this is the same budget deal that neutered the sequester – which means Congress is now officially ignoring a modest budget restraint law it passed only 2.5 years ago. And despite Goldmacher’s sideline cheering about bipartisan hand-holding, it was revealed this week that Senate Democrats aren’t going to pass a budget in 2014.

I’ll take a fight over fiscal responsibility – say, tax reform (which House Republicans brought forth this week) and entitlement reform – over Kumbaya and skyrocketing budgets any day.

Which brings us to the debt ceiling. Goldmacher cheers the “relatively drama-free” increase, but Americans should be concerned that once again Congress gave way to more irresponsible spending rather than enforce even a modicum of fiscal restraint in raising the debt ceiling.

Again, I’ll take constructive drama over destructive groupthink.

Last month, the Treasury Department and the Congressional Budget Office warned that America’s financial situation is getting increasingly worse, with risks to the economy, jobs, wages, and retirement benefits. People like Goldmacher should be informing the American people of these facts, not cheerleading the Beltway into leading the nation into self-inflicted fiscal collapse.

Simply put, the partial federal shutdown was a disastrous tactical maneuver for fiscal conservatives, and continues to be a disaster for the American people. The fact that the Beltway crowd gained in exchange for trillions of unaffordable spending is just one way the shutdown – which happened nearly six months ago – continues to damage America’s future.

Dustin Sigginsis the Washington, D.C. Correspondent for Lifesitenews.com and formerly the primary blogger with Tea Party Patriots. He is a co-author of the forthcoming book, Bankrupt Legacy: The Future of the Debt-Paying Generation. His work has been published by numerous online and print publications, including USA Today, Roll Call, Hot Air, Huffington Post, Mediaite, and First Things.

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It turns out that the villain is not a hijacker but a terrorist — someone who wants to murder everyone on the plane to further a political goal.

You ready…?

The terrorist is a 9/11 family member. Yes, you read that right; the terrorist is a 9/11 family-member who lost a loved-one in the World Trade Center on that terrible September morning.

It gets worse…

After 9/11, this 9/11 family member-turned-terrorist then joined the military but found himself disillusioned by the pointless wars.

And now…

The 9/11 family member-turned-terrorist is upset because America hasn’t done enough to ensure there will never be another 9/11. And so he figures that if he can get an air marshal blamed for a terrorist attack, America will wake up and anally probe us before we’re allowed on a plane, or something.

It gets worse…

The villain’s sidekick is a member of the American military willing to murder 150 innocent people for a payday.

It gets worse…

The one passenger on the plane who is forever helpful, kind, reasonable, noble, and never under suspicion is a Muslim doctor dressed in traditional Muslim garb including a full beard.

The fact that the Beltway crowd gained in exchange for trillions of unaffordable spending is just one way the shutdown – which happened nearly six months ago – continues to damage America’s future.

What’s six months given that there seems to be no “reverse button” on this monsterous machine that continues to amass debt and loss of economic opportunity to future generations? What we need in 2014 is a change election where the big spenders of both parties are swept from power.

We’re headed for collapse and, in tandem with former aggressors reasserting themselves (Russia and China), I think the whole world is headed for hell, once again.

rickv404 on March 1, 2014 at 5:40 PM

You are right as rain, my friend. We are witnessing Biblical Prophecy being fulfilled in front of our very eyes. And there is nothing any of us can do to avoid the inevitable. The time to stock up on supplies, ammo, food & water is behind us, and those who have yet to start planning for it really ought to think again and get busy. This is not a dress rehearsal by any means…Just imagine what 3 more years of the hopelessly pathetic excuse for a President will bring upon us. On every single metric, the Dog Eater is proving to be totally wrong and/or woefully incompetent. In short…we are toast…

The only special interest Goldmacher forgot about is the average American.

And just what makes you think that the average American is of any concern to The Ruling Class in DC?
We are but a source of geld to keep the Danes in the comfort they have become used to, and will use every deceit and trick available to them to maintain.
Change is brewing, and an ill-wind is about to blow towards the Capitol, and the results will not be pretty.

It’s nice to know that the skids to fiscal hell have been lubed with bipartisan effluvia. The military is on it’s way to Potemkin status, potholes will be filled with dollar bills, couch potatoes will have EBT card dispensing machines within arm’s length of their repose and the healthcare system will be mandated to witch doctor and death panel status, while DC secedes from the Union and forms its own Swiss Bank Account and the surviving peons stare into space and wonder, “Wut happent?”

But, it sure is nice to know that the skids to fiscal hell have been lubed with bipartisan effluvia. The military will reach Potempkin status, but couch taters will have an EBT-spitting machine within arms’ length and illegals will be able to vote twice (Dem, only) due to ‘set asides’, while the Gummint will declare Obamacare an unqualified, complete success when there’s a death panel in every garage.

Just imagine what 3 more years of the hopelessly pathetic excuse for a President will bring upon us.

Odds are lookin’ pretty good that it will take much less than 3 years to bring us to financial collapse, revolution and world war. We’ll be fortunate if we make November of this year. We may not make it past this summer.

Since the start of 2014, Washington has passed three laws that further worsened America’s crumbling financial circumstances. The farm bill, the debt ceiling increase, and the budget deal were all given bipartisan support even though each failed the test of fiscal responsibility.

They’re stealing from us.

That’s all that needs to be said. The other stuff in these kinds of articles are just superficial details and commentary that are meaningless.

I’d be more interested to know where this money ends up, that is, how much and in whose bank accounts specifically.

Simply put, the partial federal shutdown was a disastrous tactical maneuver for fiscal conservatives, and continues to be a disaster for the American people. The fact that the Beltway crowd gained in exchange for trillions of unaffordable spending is just one way the shutdown – which happened nearly six months ago – continues to damage America’s future.

Well, here’s to exposing my economic and political ignorance but can someone explain to me how refusing to raise the debt limit (which I am assuming was the cause of the “shutdown”) is a “disaster for the American people”?

Well, here’s to exposing my economic and political ignorance but can someone explain to me how refusing to raise the debt limit (which I am assuming was the cause of the “shutdown”) is a “disaster for the American people”?

What am I missing here?

Cleombrotus on March 1, 2014 at 9:09 PM

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My reaction, too. More than once, Siggins just casually asserts that the shutdown caused all of these ills, but I couldn’t find even a passing justification for that assertion. Conservatives bad, RINOs good, I guess?

Well, here’s to exposing my economic and political ignorance but can someone explain to me how refusing to raise the debt limit (which I am assuming was the cause of the “shutdown”) is a “disaster for the American people”?

What am I missing here?

Cleombrotus on March 1, 2014 at 9:09 PM

Because the refusal to raise the debt limit lead to a complete capitulation on the debt limit and all other gains on spending restraint gained to date. The Dems now have everything they want.

The only special interest Goldmacher forgot about is the average American.

And just what makes you think that the average American is of any concern to The Ruling Class in DC?
We are but a source of geld to keep the Danes in the comfort they have become used to, and will use every deceit and trick available to them to maintain.
Change is brewing, and an ill-wind is about to blow towards the Capitol, and the results will not be pretty.

Another Drew on March 1, 2014 at 5:54 PM

It’s not far off friends. The ill wind will be 4th generation and it will blow nationwide.
Be prepared to survive.
Watch CT and NY
III